Same old routine: any opponent bigs that show up usually feel good leaving the games, especially after a victory. Ditto for 1-2 combo guards.

Scola: "I know I have long hair, but it never gets into my eyes. I usually don't get a chance to get it all sweaty, since I usually share my playing time with Carl when Yao plays. That Sheed guy, he sure gets mad alot."

Artest: "This is great place to play the game, and besides, I like coming in here to show the fans how many ways I can beat them. That Sheed guy, he sure gets mad alot."

Notes (to myself):

No assistant coach was heard yelling out, "2nd foul on Stuckey, time to pull him!"

Absolutely no passion or energy shown on defense. Scola was a man among boys... smart...move on Sheed when he planted Sheed's feet to the floor during a rebound?

Why did KB start? JMax is playing high energy over the last few games.

No playing time for Tay in the second quarter; through for the night.

AI plays point...nah, teams really don't like to use talented PGs.

Tay as forward point bringing the ball up settled all movement down.

Houston team: "it's fun playing zone against these guys."

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People often confuse a descriptive element (small ball) without understanding the event that is triggered (aggressive movement ball). The loop is never closed. All free wheeling, with weak 3.4-5.

There is now a distinct pattern being shown: Freezing the guards out of shot attempts; who determines they get their shots today?

The dominate players (Sheed and Rip) are playing alone.

AI out almost entire 4th quarter. Last 6 minutes, with no play.

Last timeout play was a no play. Does anyone practice this stuff?

Speaking of practice: AI get your practice time in on those FT. He is not into any rhythm.

Very calm group of pistons. No one is mad. Those coaches are nice people. BillD would approve.

Distinct pattern being shown against AI from Sheed, Rip and Tay.

No going back now---will have to blow up. First move has to begin at trade deadline. A quality 3-4 (who can play at times in 5 slot) that will get playoff time; help with the transition signings-trades and ready to start for next year.

Symbolic play of the game: ca. 2 minutes left in the game, Rockets lead down to (I think) two. Rockets get four straight posessions in a row off of three offensive rebounds. I can't remember in my life seeing a team get three offensive rebounds in a row, let alone in crunch time of a close game. On the fourth, Houston scored, the time was down to a minute left. Pistons did what they had to do from then on, but there wasn't enough time.

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Funny thing is i remember us doing it numerous times before and after BW even in the PO's.

If everything depends on quickness of one role player, isn't time to ask from other players, what are they doing in this roster?

I'm not picking on you, my point is that team CAN'T rely so heavily on one (half)bench player...

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I think that as a team ages the need for young fresh legs becomes crucial. It's not so much relying on one player as much as needing an energy boost in the line-up to elevate the energy of the unit as a whole, and cover as many mistakes as possible. That's not an indictment on the players we have as much as an acknowledging they can't do all the things they used to. Their veteran presence combined with youth is what is valuable and keeps a team competitive after the stars are not in their prime anymore. That's mainly how i look at Amir. He can run like a lunatic covering as many people as possible and getting back to his man. Now alone that i'm not sure if he would be as effective but with the experience in the SL (Sheed specifically) it works.

Max provides this as well to a degree.

I agree with you that we shouldn't be so dependant on that presence in the line-up, but it is what is. The way the team is presently constructed, the youth has to be maximized and counted on.

He's trying to say that he should be taking more shots

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This was actually already mentioned in another article. Curry basically said something like if our defense is better, he can get more shots or something like that. When Curry talks i try to not listen too closely b/c it makes my head hurt. I know you were were being partly sarcastic. For some reason i thought of that article b/c it didn't make any sense.

Is this what it has come to. After 6 seasons of being no less than the FOURTH best team in the NBA , who has an overall record that is THIRD best and who hasa power rating that is SECOND BEST, we are settling for the fact that we:

- competed

- faught

- came close

- check to see what/ the Nets are doing?

1. This was a HOME game people, the second in a row mind you. And yet , we gave up 40 pts in the 1st quarter to a team missing its 7'6" center? Like Ive said before, these men must have women who are GREAT GREAT GREAT at whatever they are doing to make their men come out looking so tired EVERY GAME. When was our last first quarter PUT AWAY game. Hell, we tried to blow out Charlotte and our BENCH's Legs gave out!! I thought we were so well conditioned.??

2. AI aint the answer. We blew it. all the critics were right. He's fun. A good teammate. But he's NOT the fit for this team. I was so wrong , its funny. Funny like Im a clown funny. The Bucks just lost Redd for the year, maybewe can swing a deal. Nahh, we cant because:

3. Remember this season is about CAP SPACE! AI and Sheed are gone next year or by 2010. TThe team's atmosphere(Sheed, dice and Rip) shows it. sHEED IS SO gone, IT' CRAZY. i HATE to see this team TEAL OUT on us for the rest of the year, but if u think the NBA gods are gonna put a ring on Kwame Brown's finger EVER, U ARE SAdly mistaken.

4. Stuckey is a GOOD 6th man. Amir is OK, if we make him the 8th man. Max is a good 7th man. Tay is a GREAT flex man. The flexibilty is there if our starters were McDyess- PF; Prince-SF; Sheed -C; Rip-SG; Iverson, -PG. The problem is we made a mistake with Curry. Joe really blew it. Again, we were so wrong. Like Cabrera at 3rd base and trading Jurrjens. We just blew it. Curry has already lost the team and Darryl Walker was a TERRIBLE head coach. We needed an Old Head like JVGUNDY to coach. O well, Joe dont have the guts and too musch pride to fire him. Hell, Sac fired Theus;Wash fired Jordan and Memphis fired Iavamacaroni and they are TURRIble teams. Fire Curry , say OOPS and get on with it.

5. Sorry Chauncey. Your team is number 3 and u wont see any of your boys at the all star weekend unless they in suits. U were right and I was wrong. U still ugly though.

We are a team that wants to pride itself on degense with a coach who wants to play small ball and acquiring a player to average 27 pts in an offense that plays in quicksand.

Shame on all of us who didnt see this coming.

We lost two games in a row at home; ONE to a team that its beforeandafter US opponents outscored them 257-194 (avg 128-97) and beat us 111-92!!!!!!!!!!!!!THE OTHER team of misfits score 40 points on us THE TEAM THAT HAD a point to prove!!!

The problem was the defensive rotations, and the quickness of our bigs getting out to their shooters. That is what Amir excels at. Certainly moreso than Kwa-May Brown. AJ certainly would have helped.

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What both Amir and JMAX do best at is pick and roll defense. Houston was killing us on pick and rolls to start the game since we had neither of these two in the game.

We have several centers / power forwards - but no, they are hardly all the same. Each has specific skills, abilities. Kwame Brown would have been a great choice to play to guard Ming. Only thing, Ming was not in the game. Curry messed up big time by starting Brown.

Sry, but foul prone noscoring pf can't resolve every issue. Don't you think it is little too much to claim "all it comes down to one player?"

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You know, if Amir sarts, the other team averages around 20 points in the first quarter. Yes, one guy can make a difference. A huge difference. Matter of fact, nobody over the past two seasons has made more of a defensive difference for us vs. Amir. Which is why he starts for us, and should have started this game.

Other than the 1st quarter blunders, we actually got the lead for the very 1st time midway thru the 3rd quarter if I remembered well. Somehow, when Stuck went to the bench after getting his 4th foul, Rip came in for him. That leaves AI and Rip at the backcourt. AI could have played PG like he did towards the end of 1st and some in the 2nd where we managed to clawed back from like 15 pts down to like 4 pts with AI and Rip at the backcourt. But NO.....MC has Tay to handle the point. And that my friends, caused us this game. Bear in mind during the comeback in the 1st half, Tay was on the bench with AA takin his minutes. If you wanna play Tay, let him play his natural position. This is because AI and Rip was clicking in this game.

I has totally disgusted after the Dallas game, but am kind of hopeful after this one. Not too many teams can put that many three point shooters on the floor at once and when they were falling for Houston early, there were impossible to defend. Amir would have done a better job than Kwame, but it would have still been ugly. Still, a fun game to watch.

But, I thought this was a pretty hopeful offensive game. Battier and Artest anchor a pretty good defense and 105 from Detroit on 56% shooting is about as good as it's going to get. 55% from the foul line isn't going to get it done though. Come on AI.

Too many long rebounds was the ultimate story though. With a defense spread too far to try and stay with three point shooters and unable to get to any of them. I'm really hard pressed to believe the Houston only had ten offensive boards despite what the boxscore says.

I see that TaS has mentioned it a couple of times, but come on guys when the shot clock is off and you're down, taking a foul might be a good idea. They lost nine seconds what could have made for a decent three at the end.

Did you see Tay explaining the last play to Rip on the bench while Curry stood there looking lost?

Did you see Tay explaining the last play to Rip on the bench while Curry stood there looking lost?

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Hasn't Tay's story always been about replacing Curry? ;)

I agree, it was a hopeful game. I just wish we had won.

Something isn't right (obviously) and I just can't put my finger on it. Have people diagnosed Stuckey? Should Rip and AI be starting? Is AI simply incapable of being anything but, AI the guy who needs the ball most of the time?

Is Curry actually hurting this team?

Can Rasheed be the singular difference, the rallying point for joy or derision?

Something isn't right (obviously) and I just can't put my finger on it. Have people diagnosed Stuckey? Should Rip and AI be starting? Is AI simply incapable of being anything but, AI the guy who needs the ball most of the time?

Is Curry actually hurting this team?

Can Rasheed be the singular difference, the rallying point for joy or derision?

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Several large and good questions in here Roscoe. I think to address most of them we'd need to first clarify our goals: is it championship this year? long term good of the franchise? Or any number of other possible goals, like just righting that which you are sensing isn't right.

But the question I've bolded, well, I'm not sure: but last night Allen was 5-10 for 17 points, had 8 assists and 1 turn, 2 boards, and 1 steal. So perhaps it was an anomaly (sample size issues here, I know), but I'd say that last night at least, he seemed capable of putting up reasonably efficient and productive numbers without having the ball all the time. But maybe the question is can he average closer to his career average without having the ball most of the time (there the answer is probably no). But is that what we need him to do?

Other question about Rasheed. Rasheed is the only big we've got who has in the past given us any reason to expect the kind of numbers he put up last night. The rest are too limited at this point in their careers. And, come to think of it, Rasheed since he's been here has never given us a reason to expect those numbers consistently. I'd say less so now since he is aging.

I think maybe the reason you and others are having trouble putting their finger on what's not right is that what's not right has to do not with some individual player who we have any reason to expect could be doing something they are not on a nightly basis, and not with who is or isn't starting, but with the relations among the parts. And I don't just mean are they or aren't getting along (though perhaps that is part of the problem). I mean are the relations among the parts such that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Right now, the answer is pretty obviously (to me) no. And that's exposed the very real limits to the individual abilities of players that we've come to think of as All-Stars.

No doubt, a better coach might be able to coax more out of them as individuals and generate better relations among the parts, but I'm not sure any coach out there, past or present, could make this group a championship team in this one season that they've been together. But then, like I say, maybe that's not the goal really. No doubt a better coach could make it seem less obvious that something was not right.

Ultimately, none of our players -- as they are playing this season -- are top five in the league at their position. And neither is our coach. That's a whole lot of individual problems, all multiplied when you try to fit the pieces together. I don't really see how, if one accepts that, we could expect to be doing any better than we are.

So it is time for Dumars to be honest: instead of "making team better" slogan, admit that rebuilding phase has begun. It would take away a lot of unneccesary pressure from everyone: fans who still are expecting high level, coach who tries to win at price of wearing down several players and players who do try for winning something ridiculous.

AI would be pissed off but it is better to accept bitter truth than feed yourself with fake hopes.